It was a hard decision to make, to go watch the Deer Valley World Cup in Utah. This is one of two World Cups held in the United States and one of my favorite events. The national team athletes came back to their home base a couple days early to get in some extra training. They had just finished competing in Lake Placid. I’ve spent the last five years in Lake Placid and absolutely love it there. The Olympic Training Center is one of the best facilities to train and be focused for Olympic-level competition.The year before I tore my right ACL, I won the event in Lake Placid. I became the youngest person ever to win a freestyle World Cup event. Hannah Kearney won the two mogul events at that contest and when I saw her she was so happy for me she was crying. Hannah Kearney has gone on to win so many events I can’t even keep track. I think someone once called her the Michael Phelps of freestyle. Quite the title!

I figured that I should go watch the event in Deer Valley this year because supporting my teammates was more important than my unhappiness for not competing! It was really nice to see all my teammates. They were all jumping really, really well. While the event didn’t quite have the results that the team wanted, Mike Rossi, one of the younger male aerialists, who I trained with in Lake Placid, made it on the podium for the first time in his career! It is always exciting to see someone’s first medal, especially on home turf.

Hannah Kearney won both the moguls and dual moguls events at Deer Valley. It is always a pleasure to see her ski. She is one of my all-time favorite people and one of my biggest idols. In the single moguls event she shared the podium with two other girls on the U.S. team, Heather McPhie and Eliza Outtrim, making it a USA sweep! Next year, I’m going to ski with Hannah and all my American teammates in Lake Placid, Deer Valley AND Sochi!

Thanks again for reading and Поздравляю (“Pozdravlyayu” meaning Congratulations!) to Mike, Eliza, Heather and Hannah!